Art and Architecture: Archaeobotanical Studies and the Stories They Reveal
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The Kitchen House at the Nathaniel Russell House Museum is a rare intact survivor in a city where almost all the spaces inhabited by enslaved people have been lost, altered, or fully renovated. Recent discoveries have revealed the survival of a tremendous amount of evidence about the lives of enslaved people who lived in the kitchen house, especially artifacts that reveal strong African foodways and traditions. Perhaps it was this level of cultural agency that assisted the survival of distinctive Gullah Geechee culture and the development of Lowcountry cuisine that we continue to enjoy today. This session, titled Archaeobotanical Studies in Above-Ground Spaces: The Nathaniel Russell House and the Important Story it Reveals, will explore Dr. Chantel White’s archaeobotanical research and discoveries, and how enslaved people preserved their own African culinary traditions at the Nathaniel Russell House.
Dr. Chantel White is an archaeologist specializing in the study of preserved plant material. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania and the CAAM Teaching Specialist for Archaeobotany at the Penn Museum. Her research focuses on the analysis and interpretation of food remains from archaeological sites, and she has carried out fieldwork in Jordan, Greece, Italy, and Ethiopia, as well as in Charleston.
The 2024-2025 Art & Architecture Series is a four-part series of lectures and engaging presentations by experts in their respective fields and a Lowcountry excursion designed especially for this series. Tickets for each program can be purchased individually, or as a whole for a discounted price. All proceeds support Historic Charleston Foundation and our mission-driven work.
Tickets:
- Art and Architecture Program Individual Ticket: $125 per person for this session
- Art and Architecture Program Series Ticket: $450 per person for all four sessions
2024 - 2025 Art & Architecture Series: Programs priced individually or purchase all four events for $450/per person
- November 13, 2024: Courier Square and the American College of the Building Arts - A Landmark Collaboration with speaker Christian Sottile, AIA, of Sottile & Sottile. At the American College of the Building Arts' campus, 645 Meeting St. $125/per person
- December 11, 2024: From Hutty to Halsey - Collecting in 2024, What's Hot and What's Not, with speaker Angelo Madrigale. At DOYLE Auctioneers and Appraisers, 123 King St. $125/per person
- January 8, 2025: Archaeobotanical Studies in Above - Ground Spaces: The Nathaniel Russell Kitchen House and the Important Story It Reveals with speaker, Dr. Chantel E. White. At the Capt. James Missroon House, 40 East Bay St. $125 per person
- EXCURSION TRIP: February 5, 2025: The Sometimes "Disturbing Art" of Architecture: WG Clark and the Middleton Inn with speakers Reggie Gibson, Will Wingfield and Tracey Todd, HCF Director of Museums. At the Inn at Middleton Place, 4290 Ashley River Rd. $175/per person